This tutorial is an example showing you how to create a simple
observing group that will monitor an object nightly, obtaining
exposures in R and I band filters. It describes one method of using
the GUI - there are other ways of navigating around from page to page
and orders that you can do tasks in to achieve the same result. You
will discover these with use!

Startup & login

The Phase2UI is available as a Java Webstart application and as
a standalone downloadable application for Apple OS X users. We
recommend that users try to use the Webstart deployment as this
version automatically updates when changes are made to the client
and/or server. However, if Webstart is unavailable on your OS X
machine, the standalone app can be downloaded from
the Phase 2 homepage, unzipped into your
/Applications folder and run directly. When
the standalone client is out of date, a dialog box will pop up and
inform you to download the new version.

To use the Webstart version, click the button on the Phase2 page. If this is your first time using the
application, or if a new version has been released since your last
use, the most up to date version will be downloaded
automatically. With most browsers the application will then start
straight away. However, some browsers will only download the "jnlp"
file to your machine and you will need to execute that file
(e.g. double-click on it). When the software starts it will require
you to confirm that you trust the certificate that signs the
application:

The login page should then appear. You should have been supplied
with a Phase2UI username and password by LT Phase 2 Support.
(Note that this is different to your data archive
username and password.)

User information

The main Phase2UI Gui window will now open. The left hand panel is
a tree, with three different top level views (Users, Programmes and
TAGs). The tree will only be populated with entries that you have
access to - you will therefore see only one entry under Users for
example. Click on your username. The right hand panel will provide
some basic details about you which you may wish to update. In
particular we recommend you update your password. Note that you will need
to share this password with your collaborators if you want them also
to have access to the proposals under your control, so don't use a
password you also use for personal logins on other systems:

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Proposal Information

In the left hand panel expand out the tree under your username by
clicking on the folder icon. You will see a list of PI/Proposal pairs.
Expand out a PI/Proposal pair by clicking on the small triangle and
you will see the proposal ID. Clicking on this will bring up the
proposal information screen. Check the activation and expiry date of
the proposal are as you expect. This screen allows you to access the
targets and instrument configurations in the programme associated with
a proposal (a programme is a
group of related proposals):

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Adding targets

On the proposal information screen click on the "Targets in
programme" button. This will open a window showing a list of targets
(if any) so far added to the programme:

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Click "Add" to add a new target. This will bring up a window
allowing you to select the type of
target you wish to add. Select Extra-Solar Target. The bottom
half of the window will allow you to type in a name and co-ordinates
of an object (in this case BQ Cam at 03:34:59.90 +53:10:23.6
J2000):

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Click "Create" to add the new target to the target list:

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Multiple Target Entry Tool

Since version 1.6.4 of the Phase 2 UI, a button has been available
that facilitates the entry of multiple targets from a text file. Click
the "Add multiple Extra-Solar Targets" button to access this
feature. The format of the text file is explained in the dialog that
appears:

(Click to enlarge)

To use the dialog, press the "Choose and validate Target File",
after selecting the file in the file chooser that appears, the file
will be validated to make sure it is in the correct format. After
completing that process, click "GO", and the targets within the text
file will be imported into the programme's target list.

Once back at the target list, Click "Close" to exit. You will now
be returned to the proposal information screen:

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Creating groups

Click "Create Group". The Create New Group screen will open. We
will name the new group "BQ Cam Photometry". A Group consists of a single timing
constraint, optional observing constraints (some defaults will be set
up already for you - these can be edited if necessary) and a single
observation sequence (which may include multiple targets):

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Timing constraints

In the Timing
Constraint panel, select "New Constraint". This allows a number of
different types of timing
constraint to be added. In this case we will do a monitor group
with a 24 hour period (i.e. nightly monitoring). Enter the start and
end date, the monitor period and the window (which defines when within
the monitor period an observation may take place). In this case we
select a long window period as we do not care when during an
individual night the observation is made (see below).

Note: You can enter the period and window timings using either the
milliseconds window, or by filling in the "DDD HH MM SS mS"
windows. Filling in one set of foields will automatically populate the
other (e.g. entering "86400000" in the millisecionds window will cause
"1" to appear in the DDD window, and vice versa).

(Click image to enlarge)

Click "Create" to add the timing constraint to the group. The
entered parameters can also be edited on this page:

Once "Create" is selected on the Create New Group page, the tree on
the left hand side on the main Phase2 UI window will have the new
group added to it. Note the group names also have the group symbol ( ) next to them. Clicking on the Group name in the tree will show
the Group information page. The constraints are available for
editing:

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Creating an observation sequence

We will now add an observation sequence to the group. Click on the
"Create New Observation Sequence" button. This will open a window
allowing you to select from using simplified wizards to construct your
observations or the detailed sequence builder. The use of the wizards
will normally be sufficient for most observations. In general use of
the general sequence builder is only necessary for sequences with
multiple targets within a single observing sequence which is not
recommended unless absolutely necessary. It is better in most cases to
create two separate groups. Select the Wizard for Multicolour
photometry:

Click "Continue". The Photometric Sequence Wizard will now
open. Select the target (BQ Cam) from the drop down list at the top of
the screen. In general the Rotator setting should be left to
Cardinal/Automatic (ensuing the array sides are aligned N-S) unless
you have a special requirement. If you are anticipating using
exposures longer than around 120 seconds select either autoguider YES
(in which case the observation sequence will be aborted if a guide
star can not be found) or Automatic (in which case an attempt will be
made to use the autoguider but if it fails unguided observations will
be carried out anyway). In this case we have selected NO as the
exposure times will be short. Defocus should be left to 0.0 unless you
have a specific reason to defocus the telescope. (The system
automatically corrects for temperature and filter thickness changes so
these do not need to be entered here.):

(Click to enlarge)

We now need to set up the instrument configurations we wish to
observe with. Once set up these configurations will be available to
all observation sequences within your programme. Click the "New"
button next to the "Instrument Config" selector to open the
"Instrument Config Creation" screen. We will create a simple Imager
config. This must be given a name, and on selecting the Instrument
Name the appropriate options for that instrument will be presented. In
this case we will use RATCam with 2x2 binning (the usual option), the
SDSS-I filter in wheel number one and filter wheel number two
clear:

(Click to enlarge)

Clicking "Create" on the Instrument Config Creation screen returns
us to the Photometric Sequence Wizard screen. We can now select our
new ratcam i band config and "Add" 2x10 second exposures with this
config. Repeating the process we can also add 2x20 second r band
exposures. The "Up" and "Down" button allow rearrangement of the
observing sequence:

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Clicking "Continue" on the Photometric Sequence Wizard will
display the actual sequence as submitted to the observation database
at the telescope corresponding to the inputs you have made to the
wizard:

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Clicking "Continue" will return you to the Group Info screen:

(Click to enlarge)

We should now validate the group by clicking the "Validate Group" button:

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And finally we should navigate in the tree back to the Proposal
screen and Validate the entire proposal:

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The group has now been entered and we can exit the Phase2UI by
closing the main Phase2GUI window or the quit option on the Menu.

A second tutorial is available covering advanced use of the general sequence builder instead of the simplified wizards.